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What kind of computer do you have?

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aRGee
Registered User

Joined: 24 May 2003
Location: Holland

Posted: Fri Jun 17 2005 21:24 What kind of computer do you have?
Just a topic out of curiousity, cause I´m planning on buying a new computer: What kind of computers do you have: cpu, memory, soundcard, videocard,(windows/linux) etc... And what are you´re experiences with it. When and/or how often do you reach its maximum performance, what could be better, etc. Also a few tips would come in handy, example: - How important is a videocard for a music-production-computer? My computer: PIII, 550 MHZ, 128MB Geforce videocard Windows 98 se soundblaster live 17" monitor. It always worked fine with samples and the basic madtracker effect, but with the latest generation of vsti´s (arturia for example) its really lacking cpu-power, which really effects my humour. And with the new releases of madtracker, I can´t even play back my old songs anymore, so time to move on to a better system.

Inge
Man-At-Arms

Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Nieuw Lekkerland @ Holland

Posted: Fri Jun 17 2005 21:35
Oh! Computer comparisons! Sweet! -AMD 64 3200+ (socket 754, Newcastle core, 2200 mhz, 512 kb L2 cache) -Asus K8N-E Deluxe (nForce 3 ultra chipset) -Samsung SP1614C (SATA, 7200 rpm, 160 gb, 8mb cache) -Asus 9600SE (Ati Radeon 9600) -Terratec DMX 6fire lt -Enhance Invasion 460 watt -Belinea 101902 (19" tft, 16 ms response) Of lesser importance: Lite-On cd-burner & lite-on dvd player, basic logitech keyboard and optical mouse, onboard nic. Software: Windows XP sp2 (can't be bothered to try out linux for the things I do with my computer). Best, Inge
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Yannick
MadTracker Author

Joined: 16 Apr 2003
Location: Belgium

Posted: Fri Jun 17 2005 22:22
For music I'd recommend a SMP system (dual CPU or HT or dual core). It offers more stability and responsiveness. (And more power.) The dual CPU will be louder than the other solutions as you will need 2 coolers. Prefer a gfx card with a passive cooler. As you won't need outstanding graphic performances, prefer a low-power card. It will be much quieter. I think the Terratec line offers a very good sound quality. Their driver support may be a bit poor though. The more memory, the better. For audio, latency and responsiveness are very important. You won't like the latency required to swap out unused processes. Also, don't forget to test the RAM. Many weird computer failures are due to bad RAM. http://www.memtest86.com For the HD speed, you can go for SATA disks, but AFAIK, they are less reliable than the good old ATA. To increase read speed, you can go for a RAID. RAID-0 for combining 2 disks into a larger one or RAID-1 to make an automatic mirror between 2 disks. Both solutions offer higher read rates. The advantage of the RAID-1 is that if a disk fails, you don't loose your data. But the disadvantage is that you use 50% of the effective HD space. A flat screen is a must. Nowadays they are quite nice. Low latency and high contrasts. For the OS, my preference goes to Windows 2000. It's pretty light (compared to XP that is) and very stable. Yannick

TNK / ATK project
Registered User

Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: Village-Neuf, France (Dont's search on the map, it's tiny...)

Posted: Sat Jun 18 2005 12:21

Yannick wrote:

I think the Terratec line offers a very good sound quality. Their driver support may be a bit poor though.Yannick

I've heard the Terratec line offers direct XLR imput for mics, and also allows mics of several impedences to be hooked on your computer, including some professional mics like the Behringer B2 pro. Is that true ?

Switzerland : #1 earthquake provider! (Bootyshakin' Willhelm Tell ?!?)

Yannick
MadTracker Author

Joined: 16 Apr 2003
Location: Belgium

Posted: Sat Jun 18 2005 14:16
I don't know about the XLR, but for the input you can select between +4dBu or -10dBv (on my EWS88 MT that is) if that's what you mean. Yannick

Sunbuster
Registered User

Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Finland

Posted: Sat Jun 18 2005 23:34
hmm, my system is a bit outdated, but it still gets the job done most of the time: CPU: Athlon XP 2600+ MB: Epox 8RDA3+ RAM: 2x512 MB DDR Kingston Valueram @ 166MHz bus speed (rated to 200MHz though) GFX-card: Matrox G400MAX v. Dualhead, modded to passive cooling (best GFX card I've ever had, considering I don't need 3D speed but do love the dualhead feature which works flawlesly). Soundcard: Aureal Vortex2 SQD (a pretty shite card, but it gets the job done until I can afford a better one). HDD: 1x120GB Maxtor & 1x200GB Seagate internally (ATA) + 1 x 250GB Maxtor Onetouch II external (for backups). Disk Drives: LG DVD-RAM/DVD+/-R/RW/CD-R/RW burner, Samsung CD-R/RW burner Monitors: 1 x Mag XJ810 19" CRT, 1 x Compaq 1701 17" TFT Case: Nexus Breeze (acoustically silenced). I've managed to max out the system using Madtracker. In these cases I've had something like 32 tracks going, with about 12-15 VST's running at the same time (+various samples). I suggest spending a bit more money on getting a silenced system. I enjoy working at my computer much more now when it doesn't sound like a jet engine. I can recommend the Nexus Breeze cases. They've got plenty of room for expansion, and come prefitted with a 120mm case fan and a 350-400W PSU, also with a 120mm fan. Plus they're prefitted with accoustic dampening material on the inside. Spend some money on a good CPU cooler, and you'll have a system that you have to check from the LEDs if it's on or not

Crash
Registered User

Joined: 26 Jan 2005
Location: Germany

Posted: Tue Jun 28 2005 08:44
Hardware: CPU: AMD XP 3200+, Barton core MB: LANParty NF II Ultra RAM: 2x 512 MB Infineon DDR PC3200 GFX: Asus Radeon 9600 XT w/ custom fanless cooler HDD: Maxtor 300 GB SATA in HD-Silencer case Sound: Creative Soundblaster Audigy I Platinum Power supply: beQuiet! 440 Case: Chieftech Midi Tower w/ custom acoustic damping Monitor: HP L1925 (19"-TFT) Headphones: AKG K301 Keyboard & mouse: Logitech Cordless Desktop MX MIDI: Roland PC-200 II Internet: 1 MBit/s-DSL Software: OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 Music: MadTracker (no shit! ), CoolEdit Planned upgrades in the near future: RAM (-> 2 GB), Soundcard (-> maybe TerraTec?) Planned upgrades in the distant future: MB, CPU (-> 64 bit), GFX
Regards Crash

Za!ppa
Registered User

Joined: 26 Jun 2003
Location: Denmark

Posted: Fri Jul 01 2005 01:00
Hardware: - CPU: ~1,~2Mhz 8502 core (100% 6502,6510 compatible) and an additional Zilog Z80 core - MEM: 128KB RAM, 48KB ROM, 16KB VRAM - GFX: VIC-II (PAL), VDC - Sound: SID (8580) - Monitor: some 14" TV - Misc: ActionReplay 6 - Cables: PC64, X1541 - Drives: build-in C1571, a few C1541-II's, a C1581 Software: - Demos: Cycle, Soiled Legacy, ... - Code: TurboAssembler (and CA65) - Music: CyberTracker Planned upgrades in the near future: - RetroReplay

BeatMax
Registered User

Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Germany

Posted: Sat Jul 02 2005 03:00
Finally I bought a complete PC (Aldi) CPU: P4 HT, 3,4 GHz HD : SEAGATE, 300 GB 40x CD/DVD-Burner 1GB RAM 19" MEDION-TFT-Flat Soundcard on Board WindowsXP SP2 It runs pretty well here BMX
----------------------------------------------- B E A T M A X Madtracker-Tutorial - Personal Releases https://linktr.ee/beatmax_prediction https://soundcloud.com/beatmax_prediction -----------------------------------------------

Enonimis
Regular

Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Canton Ohio, USA

Posted: Sat Jul 02 2005 03:37
I'm still running the same heap of crap I was 3 years ago... AMD Athlon 1800+ system... Although now I have a GForce 6800 GT video card. Okay it's time to upgrade. I have it all figured out except one thing. I can either get an Athlon 64 3500+ CPU, or an athlon 64 X2 4200+ dual core CPU for an extra $300 bucks. Opinions? ~Enon P.S. Oh yeah, and blow me
If you do not agree with my opinions, you are wrong. If you do agree with my opinions you are drunk. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://elrick-enonimis.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Walter Vos
Registered User

Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Groningen, The Netherlands

Posted: Sat Jul 02 2005 10:44
Same here enon, i saw the dual core thing and thought 'hey, that sounds cool!'. Do I need it? What's the advantage, and even more, what is it?! I've also been wondering what I should do for a mainboard, are there big quality differences between 200 euro's and 100 euro's? I do have my case figured out already, i mean thislooks pretty cool right? Any thoughts anybody?
what is hip? www.waltervos.nl

cHiEfRoCkA 4 ReaL
Registered User

Joined: 23 May 2005
Location: Germany

Posted: Sat Jul 02 2005 14:22
P 4 3,2 GhZ 1024 MB RAM Infineon Asus Mainboard P4P800 Geforce 6600 GT Creative Soundblaster Live 2 HDD (120GB + 30 GB) LG DVD Burner DVD ROM Hitachi and so on....

Martin
Registered User

Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Norway

Posted: Sat Jul 02 2005 14:49
AMD Athlon XP, 1600 MHz (12 x 133) 1900+ MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU (MS-6380E) chipset VIA VT8367 512 Mb (DDR SDRAM) SAPPHIRE RADEON 9600 ATLANTIS (128 Mb) Creative SB Live! Player 1024 Sound Card Maxtor 6Y080P0 (80 Gb, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133) Maxtor 6Y080P0 (80 Gb, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133) _NEC DVD_RW ND-2500A LG CD-RW CED-8120B (12x/8x/32x CD-RW)

Enonimis
Regular

Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Canton Ohio, USA

Posted: Sat Jul 02 2005 23:44

Walter Vos wrote:

Same here enon, i saw the dual core thing and thought 'hey, that sounds cool!'. Do I need it? What's the advantage, and even more, what is it?!

A dual core processor is basicaly just like having a dual processor system... all on one chip, in a standard slot. The Athlon 64 x2 chips are 939 formfactor compatible with most Athlon 64 motherboards.

Now that I think about it, it's well worth the extra $300. I think I'll go for the dual core chip.

~Enon

If you do not agree with my opinions, you are wrong. If you do agree with my opinions you are drunk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://elrick-enonimis.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inge
Man-At-Arms

Joined: 04 May 2003
Location: Nieuw Lekkerland @ Holland

Posted: Sun Jul 03 2005 11:30
If you go dual core (which can be an absolute bliss for audio stuff), then go AMD X2. The Intel dual core solution is some sort of hack (the p4 core was never meant to be used twice on one processor), whereas the 64 architecture is really suitable for dual core stuff. Furthermore, the current AMD 64 core is just amazing fast. You might wanna check http://www.nuendo.com/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=7 and http://www.cubase.net/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=12 for some pretty hardcore cpu benchmarking. End conclusion turns out to be the AMD X2 solution. Inge (happy single core socket 754 AMD 64 3200+ user )
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